WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - The William and Mary men's basketball team will host the Old
Dominion Monarchs on Saturday night with points in the Optima Health Challenge
ups for grabs. For the second straight year, W&M and ODU have partnered
with title sponsor Optima Health for the all-sports Challenge between the
Hampton Roads schools.
The Optima Health Challenge is a running score of all the
direct competitions between the two schools, with a champion being named at the
end of the 2012-13 athletic season and receiving the Optima Health Trophy. The
2012-13 Challenge is currently tied at 20 points apiece following the fall season. W&M
claimed 10 points in both men's and women's soccer, while the Monarchs took 10
points in football and field hockey.
Click HERE for the complete 2012-13 Optima
Health Challenge standings.
The scoring system awards 10 points for the overall winner
in every regular season ODU-W&M athletic competition (for instance, in
football, the winner of the Nov. 12 match-up received 10 points; in baseball,
the winner of the regular season three-game series will receive 10 points). A
total of 120 points (10 points for football, 10 points for men's basketball, 10 points for
women's basketball, and 10 points per nine Olympic Sports) will be awarded for 2012-13. With men's and women's basketball facing Old Dominion on two occasions during the regular season, each of the four match-ups will be worth five points in the Challenge standings. The winning school will be the first to tally 65 points.
The Tribe enters Saturday's contest off a pair of tough road
setbacks, moving to 3-3 on the season. In its most recent outing on Wednesday
night, W&M trailed Richmond by as many as seven points with eight minutes
remaining, before rallying to take a three-point lead late in the contest. UR
hit a 3-pointer in the final seconds to send the game to overtime, and despite
W&M jumping out to a five-point advantage in the first OT session, the
Spiders pulled out the double-overtime victory, 86-78, at the Robins Center.
At Richmond, sophomore
Marcus Thornton, who ranks second in
the CAA at 18.3 points per game, scored a game-high 22 points in leading four
Tribe players in double figures. Junior
Tim Rusthoven just missed a
double-double with 20 points and nine rebounds, while juniors
Kyle Gaillard and
Brandon Britt added 16 and 14 points, respectively. On the year, W&M leads the CAA in
scoring (69.5 ppg), field goal percentage (47.3 percent) and 3-point field goal
percentage defense (24.2 percent), while ranking second in assists (13.0) and
defensive field goals percentage (38.9 percent).
Old Dominion is coming off a 79-72 setback at 4-1 Murray
State on Nov. 24. Sophomore Dimitri Batten and junior Donte Hill lead ODU in
scoring at 10.7 and 10.5 points per game, respectively. As a team, the Monarchs
led the CAA in rebounding at 41.3 per game, while ranking second in rebounding
margin at +9.3. ODU averages 15.8 offensive rebounds per game, which leads the
CAA, while pulling down 42.8 percent of its missed shots on the offensive end.
Fans can also follow the action on the
Tribe Radio Network with Jay Colley, Bill McDonald and Charlie Woollum on the
call. The Tide 92.3 FM in Williamsburg is the flagship station of the Tribe
Radio Network and the broadcast can be found over the Internet at
TribeAthletics.com. The Tribe Athletics TV video stream for the event can be
purchased at TribeAthletics.com as well.
